Acoustic Blues

[Old San Antone]

In the description of The Jazz Lounge, Blues is the first genre listed as appropriate for the lounge.  So I decided to create a thread for Acoustic Blues musicians that GMG-ers like and listen to.  I first thought to title the thread Delta Blues, but realized that there are others regional styles, Piedmont, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, that I didn't wish to exclude.  (Coming soon, a thread on Bluegrass/Old Time)

Ideally, this thread will focus on solo performances (not bands) although as long as the music is played with acoustic instruments, duos, trios and even string bands like the Mississippi Sheiks, they would qualify for discussion.  The only kind of Blues I do not wish to include is electric Chicago styled bands. IOW, Muddy Waters's early acoustic recordings are OK but once he went electric, those recordings would be outside the scope if this thread,.

To kick it off, I have been listening to Robert Johnson in one of the compilations of his recordings:

[j winter]

Robert Johnson is of course amazing stuff, I've been listening to it since that first reissue box set came out in the early 90's. 

Also gotta love some Mississippi John Hurt, amongst many others...

[Old San Antone]

Robert Johnson is of course amazing stuff, I've been listening to it since that first reissue box set came out in the early 90's. 

Also gotta love some Mississippi John Hurt, amongst many others...

Yep, John Hurt is classic - such clean picking.  And from what I've heard a real sweet guy.  Although I posted that Centennial Collection, my favorite and original recording was the King of the Delta Blues Singers Lp that came out in 1961:

[Old San Antone]

Here's a quote from the book Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia:

"Perhaps you think that symbolism exists only in Moby-Dick, or Wagnerian opera, in high art of a refined, rarefied nature, and is absent from the vernacular expressions of common people. Yet spend a few hours musing over the blues lyrics of Robert Johnson and Charley Patton—many of which take a considerable amount of deciphering and leaps of imagination to comprehend—and you will come away with a far different perspective.

From a psychological point of view, the Delta blues has closer affinities to the French Symbolist poets of the nineteenth century than to the minstrel songs and medicine show ditties that are so often seen as anticipating its arrival on the scene. Even when the surface meanings of a blues song seem clear, the listener is often left with a vague, sometimes disquieting, sense that hidden layers of emotion and signification remain to be plumbed. The familiar "I woke up this morning"—the opening phrase of so many blues songs—is never just "I woke up this morning," never merely a nondescript response to the familiar ring of an alarm clock (or crowing of a rooster), but also brings with it half-remembered dreams and nightmares, and the sleepless anxieties, of many, many long and lonely nights. This submerged region is the true psychological terrain of the blues."

Gioia has written a thought provoking and well researched and written book on acoustic blues.  Highly recommended to anyone interested this music.

[asin]B001LKLAQG[/asin]

[Old San Antone]

Charley Patton is generally considered the oldest Delta blues musician with his work surviving in over 50 recordings.

Born some time between 1885 and 1891 he probably was playing around his country from the first decade of the 20th century until his death in 1934.  Son House knew him and played with him but was at least a decade younger, maybe more.  The general opinion is that Patton was either an irresponsible jokester who improvised most of his songs on demand not really investing any thought or effort into their construction.  Often the lyrics are nonsensical or erratic to the point of appearing to be thrown together with no organization.  The other view is that he was far more sophisticated and was using complicated metaphorical language to express deeply felt emotional information.  He was also unique in that he documented historical events and persons, especially white authority figures, in sometimes striking language.  Compared to Robert Johnson, though, Patton's songs are much cruder.  But that is not a defect, just a difference of style, and many people consider Patton the superior artist.  One thing is for certain, Patton was much more well known and popular than Johnson during their respective lifetimes.

What everyone also agrees on is that he was a exciting and compelling performer, doing things with a guitar that we thought were invented by much later musicians e.g. Jimi Hendrix, i.e. playing with his teeth and playing the guitar behind his back.  Considering his small stature all who heard him testify to his having a very loud voice capable of projecting above the din of a juke house with plenty of dancing, shouting, drinking and fighting.  Patton merely did what he had to do to capture the attention of a rowdy crowd more interested in partying than listening to a singer other than as the person providing music for dancing.  And he was, by all accounts, capable of keeping their attention.



Charley Patton : The Complete Recordings

I bought the Revenant set because it was curated by John Fahey and included an excellent text with annotations for each song as well as transcriptions.  The decision by Revenant was to leave the 78s alone and present the recordings with minimal processing.  Overall they are in fair-good quality.  The set pictured above was marketed as having been remastered boasting "the best sound quality."  Amazon reviewers would seem to confirm this, but the results still rely on the old 78s and in some cases the results are only slightly improved. 

Anyone simply wanting a complete collection of Patton's sessions would be well served with the JSP set. 



The Revenant box is very expensive and hard to find at this point, although if found I consider it a mandatory purchase for real blues fans.

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues by Charley Patton

A 7-CD primer on Mississippi Delta blues with Charley Patton as the central, generative figure, this set features 5 CDs with all issued and unissued recordings by Patton and sessionmates Son House, Willie Brown, Louise Johnson, Henry 'Son' Sims, Bertha Lee, Delta Big Four, Buddy Boy Hawkins, Edith North Johnson, and even talent scout HC Speir; a 6th CD of artists in Charley's "orbit" like Ma Rainey, Howlin' Wolf, Poor Boy Lofton, Kid Bailey, Walter Rhodes, Rube Lacy, Blind Joe Reynolds (newly discovered track!), Tommy Johnson and Pops Staples; and a 7th CD of interviews with Patton associates Staples, Wolf, Speir and Patton protégé Booker Miller. All tracks are fully remastered and pitch-corrected from the best possible sources, resulting in the definitive versions of this material.

Also included are a freestanding reprint of John Fahey's 1970 Patton book, 128 pages of exhaustive new notes by Fahey and blues scholars David Evans, Dick Spottswood, and Ed Komara, complete lyric transcriptions, full-size reproductions of the 6 original 1929 Paramount ads, a full set of 78 record label stickers from all Charley's Paramount, Vocalion and Herwin releases, and dozens of other dazzling visuals. All housed in a deluxe '78 Album' hardcover book and slipcase.

[Old San Antone]

Tommy Johnson - Complete Recordings 1928-1929

Tommy Johnson (January 1896 – November 1, 1956) was an American Delta blues musician who recorded in the late 1920s and was known for his eerie falsetto voice and intricate guitar playing.

By 1920, Johnson was an itinerant musician based in Crystal Springs but traveling widely around the South, sometimes accompanied by Papa Charlie McCoy. In 1928, he made his first recordings, with McCoy, for Victor Records, including "Canned Heat Blues", in which he sang of drinking methanol from the cooking fuel Sterno. The song features the refrain "canned heat, mama, sure, Lord, killing me." The blues group Canned Heat took their name from this song. Johnson's "Big Road Blues" inspired Canned Heat's song "On the Road Again".

Johnson recorded two further sessions, for Victor in August 1928 and for Paramount Records in December 1929. He did not record again, mistakenly believing that he had signed away his right to record. [Wikipedia]

I really wish he had recorded more sides!  Tragic loss due to either an intentional misleading act by Paramount or accidental misunderstanding by Johnson.  Either way it is a great loss to future blues fans.  Tommy Johnson had a unique sound and voice, some may find a similarity with Skip James concerning his falsetto singing, but his guitar patterns are nothing like Skip James and his other vocals not in falsetto are very different from other singers.

In the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), a character named Tommy Johnson, played by Chris Thomas King, describes selling his soul to the devil to play guitar. The Tommy Johnson character in the film plays a number of songs originally recorded by the blues musician Skip James and accompanies the Soggy Bottom Boys, a band consisting of the film's three main protagonists plus Johnson, on "Man of Constant Sorrow".

The story of Johnson's selling his soul to the devil was first told by his brother, LaDell Johnson, and reported by David Evans in his 1971 biography of Johnson. This legend was subsequently attributed to the blues musician Robert Johnson.

[Old San Antone]

Alger "Texas" Alexander

Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900 – April 18, 1954) was an American blues singer from Jewett, Texas. Some sources claim that he was the cousin of Lightnin' Hopkins, but no direct kinship has been established. It has also been asserted that he was the uncle of the Texas country blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims.

Most Blues singers play guitar, harp, piano or some other instrument, but Texas Alexander's powerful tenor voice was the only thing he needed to knock you sideways with his primitive Blues. Singing in the street or standing on the back of a wagon at a party or fish-fry, maybe backed by a guitarist, he would improvise deeply personal songs about working in the fields, about prison, about lost love or the wandering life, with a passion that spoke of bitter experience. His archaic style, with its free rhythms and wild 'hollers', throws a light on the origins of the Blues as a rural folk music of rare power and emotional force.

A good compilation:



Frost Texas Tornado Blues 1934

https://www.youtube.com/v/L9cCE0vIm24&feature=emb_title

[Old San Antone]

Sam Chatmon - Blues at Home 2 - recorded in Hollendale, Mississippi in 1976

The Blues at Home series is 12 albums of music with two volumes of interviews.  Excellent acoustic blues featuring some musicians not well known but very talented.

Sam Chatmon (born Vivian Chatmon; January 10, 1897 – February 2, 1983) was a Delta blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks. He may have been Charley Patton's half-brother.

Chatmon was born in Bolton, Mississippi, United States. Chatmon's family was well known in Mississippi for their musical talents; he was a member of the family's string band when he was young. In an interview he stated that he started playing the guitar at the age of three, laying it flat on the floor and crawling under it. A year older and he recalled singing a song including the lyrics "Run down to the river thought I'd jump an' drown / I thought about the woman I lovin' and I turn around". He regularly performed for white audiences in the 1900s.

https://www.youtube.com/v/AkEhtfPN084

[Old San Antone]

Every Road I Take: The Best of Contemporary Acoustic Blues doesn't do a bad job of living up to its title, sampling tracks from some of the most acclaimed blues artists of the late '90s. There is material from artists like R.L. Burnside, Keb' Mo', Rory Block, Tab Benoit, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and more, painting a rich and diverse portrait of the wealth of talent keeping the tradition alive.



Speaking of Keb Mo', his debut record includes a number of good examples of contemporary acoustic blues.

[j winter]

In the description of The Jazz Lounge, Blues is the first genre listed as appropriate for the lounge.  So I decided to create a thread for Acoustic Blues musicians that GMG-ers like and listen to.  I first thought to title the thread Delta Blues, but realized that there are others regional styles, Piedmont, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, that I didn't wish to exclude.  (Coming soon, a thread on Bluegrass/Old Time)

Ideally, this thread will focus on solo performances (not bands) although as long as the music is played with acoustic instruments, duos, trios and even string bands like the Mississippi Sheiks, they would qualify for discussion.  The only kind of Blues I do not wish to include is electric Chicago styled bands. IOW, Muddy Waters's early acoustic recordings are OK but once he went electric, those recordings would be outside the scope if this thread,.

To kick it off, I have been listening to Robert Johnson in one of the compilations of his recordings:

Thanks for a very interesting thread! 

After reading the opening post, I put on an old favorite DVD of mine, Eric Clapton's Sessions for Robert J.  The DVD is entirely composed of Robert Johnson covers, broken into four sessions of 3-5 songs each -- two sessions of electric with Clapton's band in the studio (great band, including Billy Preston on keyboards), one session acoustic 2 guitars with Clapton and Doyle Bramhall II, and one session solo acoustic.  It's a great disc if you like both Clapton and Robert Johnson -- not exactly the sort of thing you're looking for on this thread, but still very cool stuff.



But the main reason I post is that your first post plus this DVD inspired me to re-listen to parts of the 1990 Robert Johnson "Complete Recordings" box set, the one that went Gold and sold millions of copies. 



The sound on that is listenable but honestly pretty bad, murky with lots of hiss, and on a lark I looked up the set you picture in the first post above, released in 2011, and read quite a few comments speaking to the improvements in the remastering.  It was cheap, so I added a copy to my last Amazon order (along with some Lead Belly, whom I imagine you'll get to eventually).  The package arrived today.

OH MY GOD.   The difference is absolutely astonishing.  They have performed a minor miracle -- it sounds far better than I ever imagined it could, clear and natural with lots of detail.  I've just listened to the whole two discs straight through with a large grin firmly planted on my face.  I am happy as a clam, and would likely have never been aware of it's existence if you hadn't mentioned it. 

So, thank you sir -- if your travels ever take you to Delaware, I officially owe you a beer     And if anyone else out there is a Robert Johnson fan like me who has only heard the 1990 set, do not hesitate!

[Old San Antone]

Thanks for a very interesting thread! 

After reading the opening post, I put on an old favorite DVD of mine, Eric Clapton's Sessions for Robert J.  The DVD is entirely composed of Robert Johnson covers, broken into four sessions of 3-5 songs each -- two sessions of electric with Clapton's band in the studio (great band, including Billy Preston on keyboards), one session acoustic 2 guitars with Clapton and Doyle Bramhall II, and one session solo acoustic.  It's a great disc if you like both Clapton and Robert Johnson -- not exactly the sort of thing you're looking for on this thread, but still very cool stuff.



But the main reason I post is that your first post plus this DVD inspired me to re-listen to parts of the 1990 Robert Johnson "Complete Recordings" box set, the one that went Gold and sold millions of copies. 



The sound on that is listenable but honestly pretty bad, murky with lots of hiss, and on a lark I looked up the set you picture in the first post above, released in 2011, and read quite a few comments speaking to the improvements in the remastering.  It was cheap, so I added a copy to my last Amazon order (along with some Lead Belly, whom I imagine you'll get to eventually).  The package arrived today.

OH MY GOD.   The difference is absolutely astonishing.  They have performed a minor miracle -- it sounds far better than I ever imagined it could, clear and natural with lots of detail.  I've just listened to the whole two discs straight through with a large grin firmly planted on my face.  I am happy as a clam, and would likely have never been aware of it's existence if you hadn't mentioned it. 

So, thank you sir -- if your travels ever take you to Delaware, I officially owe you a beer     And if anyone else out there is a Robert Johnson fan like me who has only heard the 1990 set, do not hesitate!

Wow, I too just listened to that Clapton Robert Johnson recording this afternoon, and I am happy that my post of the Complete Recordings set brought it to your attention.  And if I am ever in Delaware I will take you up on your offer.   

Please continue to post here of more of your blues listening.

 

[Old San Antone]

Seminal gospel-blues artist Blind Willie Johnson is regarded as one of the greatest bottleneck slide guitarists. Yet the Texas street-corner evangelist is known as much for the his powerful and fervent gruff voice as he is for his ability as a guitarist. He most often sang in a rough, bass voice (only occasionally delivering in his natural tenor) with a volume meant to be heard over the sounds of the streets. Johnson recorded a total of 30 songs during a three-year period and many of these became classics of the gospel-blues, including "Jesus Make up My Dying Bed," "God Don't Never Change," and his most famous, "Dark Was the Night -- Cold Was the Ground."

A slide guitarist nonpareil, Johnson had an exquisite sense of timing and tone, using a pocketknife or ring slider to duplicate his vocal inflections or to produce an unforgettable phrase from a single strike of a string. Eric Clapton credits his "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" as "probably the finest slide guitar playing you'll ever hear."  Jack White cites Johnson's "Dark Was the Night—Cold Was the Ground" as "the greatest example of slide guitar ever recorded,"  while Ry Cooder calls the track "the most transcendent piece in all American music.""

— Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar by Jas Obrecht

In 1977 NASA launched its Voyager 1 spacecraft to study our solar system and beyond. In case it's ever discovered by extraterrestrials, included onboard is a gold-plated disc containing images, videos, and sounds of life on earth. Its contents were selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan. Among its "Earth Music" tracks are selections from Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, and Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night—Cold Was the Ground."

[Old San Antone]

When Son House was rediscovered in 1964, he was exactly what the Folk/Blues revival fans had been hoping to find: a living exponent of the pre-war Delta blues. The power and conviction of this old man as he slashed down on his battered resonator guitar, rolled back his eyes and gave out a big lungful of his blues, left no doubt that this was the real thing. Here was a man who had lived at Dockery Plantation in the late '20s when a group of spectacularly good musicians were giving us an insight into the origins of the blues.

Eddie James House Jr. was born in 1902, and by the time he was 15 he was a wandering preacher, touring the Delta plantations evoking hell-fire with an impact and fervor that became a feature of his later blues career.  He was a late-comer to the life of a musician, getting his first guitar in his early twenties.  But it wasn't long before he was performing and attracting crowds with his forceful style and compelling music.

"House's singing employed a full range of vocal effects that would be much copied by the bluesmen, soul stars, and rock & rollers who would come after him: his thoughtful melisma, his spontaneous use of falsetto to emphasize certain lines, his growls and whoops and moans. House's performances seemed inner-directed—as if he was playing for himself and not a crowd." [Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey by Peter Guralnick, Robert Santelli, et al.]

In Lula, about 25 miles north of Clarksdale, Son met Charley Patton, and although the men had an ongoing mutual antipathy, they respected each others' playing. They performed all over the Delta with their friend Willie Brown, and in 1930 the trio traveled to Wisconsin to record for Paramount Records. Charley Patton had a hit with 'Pony Blues' the previous year, and Paramount were keen for more. They played together on several tracks, and each man cut a few solo efforts too. Son House's 'Preachin' the Blues', about how the blues stole his soul from the Baptist Church, is truly hair-raising.

There is an apocryphal story of House and Willie Brown playing at a house party when they noticed a teenage boy standing near them staring with intent interest.  When they took a break the boy bothered House about playing his guitar, until they finally relented and let him.  But people began to complain about the noise he was making insisting they they take the guitar from his hands and send him away.  About a year later, they were again playing at a juke joint when in walks a young man, with several harmonicas strapped to his chest and a guitar slung across his back.  It was the same boy, but now he carried himself with more authority and again asked to play when they took a break.  Reluctantly they agreed, but were astonished at the improvement in his playing.  He played so well, and the crowd reacted so warmly, that they quickly had to get back to work lest they end up losing the job.

The young man was Robert Johnson.  While House was to confirm this story, undoubtedly it has been embellished over the years, including the myth of Johnson selling his soul to the devil in a Faustian bargain as the reason his playing had improved so much in just one year.

Following Patton's death in 1934, Son House and Willie Brown continued their double act. In 1941 Alan Lomax recorded a session with the men for the Library of Congress, but shortly after this both men dropped out of sight.

But bluesmen are not objects to be lost and then found. Having vast talent, and having it go unrecognized, takes a toll. One winter morning in 1966, House was found by a Rochester snow-plowing crew—numb, drunk, and almost lifeless in a pile of snow. In 1976 he moved to Detroit; he died in obscurity in 1988. He might have been 86 years old or he might have been 94 or he might have been 102. One thing is for certain, though: He wasn't a tragedy. House's protege Robert Johnson sang about coming to the crossroads, but it was House who drew the map that led him there. House, in his music and in his life, brought together the sacred and the profane; he found the musical moment where Saturday night meets Sunday morning. House's lyrics, which were personal and emotional, made the blues about more than suffering, more than celebration—he imbued the form with an introspective quality, exploring the torments of the soul without choosing sides or making easy judgment. "Ain't no heaven, ain't no burning hell/ Where I'm going when I die, can't nobody tell," House sang in "My Black Mama." Many churchmen and bluesmen saw the world in black and white; Son House sang in shades of blue—dark, rich, varied hues that could capture the range of human experience. "I wish I had me a heaven of my own," he sang in "Preachin' the Blues." House got a little piece of paradise every time he played his guitar. [Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey by Peter Guralnick, Robert Santelli, et al.]

When wide-eyed fans asked Son House about Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, they were speaking of legends, but in his replies he was just talking about his friends. When he picked up his guitar, he flipped back to a different era, and gave us a taste of how the blues used to be.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING: Son House, The Original Delta Blues (Columbia/ Legacy, 1998).

[Ratliff]

My familiarity with acoustic Blues comes from three artists. I started with Robert Johnson (a work colleagued/friend turned me on the collected recordings released on CD around 1990). Then came across Leroy Carr and Big Bill Broonzy. Carr died young due to alcoholism and his recordings date from the 1930s. Broonzy I know from a recording session he did near the end of his life, which was a sort of retrospective of his career. Of the three Robert Johnson has made the biggest impression. I'm intrigued by the suggestion above that the newest release of the Robert Johnson recordings have dramatically improved sound.

[Old San Antone]

My familiarity with acoustic Blues comes from three artists. I started with Robert Johnson (a work colleagued/friend turned me on the collected recordings released on CD around 1990). Then came across Leroy Carr and Big Bill Broonzy. Carr died young due to alcoholism and his recordings date from the 1930s. Broonzy I know from a recording session he did near the end of his life, which was a sort of retrospective of his career. Of the three Robert Johnson has made the biggest impression. I'm intrigued by the suggestion above that the newest release of the Robert Johnson recordings have dramatically improved sound.

Nice!

Leroy Carr was hugely popular during his lifetime, which as you wrote was all  too short and Bill Broonzy was very popular in the UK and was a primary influence on the English blues groups due to his regular touring in the UK during the '50s and '60s.

[j winter]

I have to admit, I'm only familiar with Broonzy through this, which is excellent..... I'll have to check out the man himself at some point...

[Ratliff]

I'm not sure if it qualifies as a proper blues, but I like Broonzy's version of the traditional "Frankie and Johnny."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsNfUPRNyDI

[Old San Antone]

I have to admit, I'm only familiar with Broonzy through this, which is excellent..... I'll have to check out the man himself at some point...

Great record.  There is a funny story about Muddy Waters's first trip to England.  By that time he had been in Chicago doing his electric blues for a while, and was not expecting the reception he got.  The English, primarily because of Broonzy were much more into acoustic blues, and Muddy had to borrow an acoustic guitar to continue the tour since his electric stuff was not going over.  I bet this album was the result of that trip to England.

I'm not sure if it qualifies as a proper blues, but I like Broonzy's version of the traditional "Frankie and Johnny."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsNfUPRNyDI

Yep.  The pre-war blues players performed a variety of songs besides standard blues, Tin Pan Alley numbers, folk songs (like F&J) and even sentimental parlor songs like "After the Ball".  But because the record companies wished to market their music mainly to rural African Americans, they would only release blues songs, with some exceptions.  Big Bill Broonzy had a different kind of repertory, similar to Leadbelly, to someone like Robert Johnson - including more folk material than straight blues.  Or I should say, his recordings featured a more varied repertory, since as I said, players like Robert Johnson would play whatever their audiences requested (while his recordings were 100% blues), and he was reported to be a quick study being able to perform a song he heard on the radio after one hearing.

[vers la flamme]

I've been listening to a lot of Blind Willie McTell lately. A legend, from my city. It's inspired me to break out the 12-string which I hadn't touched in years.

[Old San Antone]

I've been listening to a lot of Blind Willie McTell lately. A legend, from my city. It's inspired me to break out the 12-string which I hadn't touched in years.

Nice!